Written by: Harrison
Recorded: 13, 14 February; 20 April 1967
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 17 January 1969 (UK), 13 January 1969 (US)
George Harrison: vocals, organ, effects
John Lennon: piano, glockenspiel, effects
Paul McCartney: bass, trumpet, effects
Ringo Starr: drums
Available on:
Yellow Submarine
Anthology 2
Yellow Submarine Songtrack
Recorded in 1967 during the Sgt Pepper sessions, George Harrison's Only A Northern Song wasn't released until the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album in early 1969.
The song's lyrics, although light-hearted, continue Harrison's established themes of introspection and slight misanthropy. The title was a pun on The Beatles' hometown and the company which published their songs.
Northern Songs was founded in 1963 by The Beatles, their manager Brian Epstein, and music publisher Dick James to publish Lennon and McCartney's songs. Harrison and Ringo Starr were essentially writers-for-hire until their contracts expired in 1968.
Only A Northern Song was a joke relating to Liverpool, the Holy City in the North of England. In addition, the song was copyrighted Northern Songs Ltd, which I don't own, so: 'It doesn't really matter what chords I play... as it's only a Northern Song'.
Anthology
During 1966 Harrison had become disenchanted with being a Beatle, and contributed relatively little to Sgt Pepper. Only A Northern Song, while conceived as a joke, also served as a complaint against the dominance of the Lennon-McCartney partnership and the few songs he was allowed to record each year.
I realized Dick James had conned me out of the copyrights for my own songs by offering to become my publisher. As an 18 or 19-year-old kid, I thought, 'Great, somebody's gonna publish my songs!' But he never said, 'And incidentally, when you sign this document here, you're assigning me the ownership of the songs,' which is what it is. It was just a blatant theft. By the time I realized what had happened, when they were going public and making all this money out of this catalog, I wrote Only A Northern Song as what we call a 'piss-take,' just to have a joke about it.
Only A Northern Song didn't make the grade for Sgt Pepper, and so was held over for an unspecified future release until the creators of the Yellow Submarine film needed more songs for the soundtrack.
[The filmmakers] wanted some new songs from us, so we recorded Only A Northern Song in Abbey Road. I remember playing a silly trumpet. My dad used to play. I can't, but I can mess around a lot - and that song gave me the perfect framework. It was very tongue in cheek.
Anthology
The song became one of The Beatles' most psychedelic recordings, featuring a host of unusual instruments including timpani, glockenspiel and chimes, and a phasing effect caused partly by the mixing together of two versions of the same rhythm track.
In the studio
The Beatles began recording Only A Northern Song on 13 February, with the working title Not Known. They taped nine takes of the rhythm track, four of which were complete. The best was take three, onto which Harrison overdubbed two lead vocals the following day.
It was returned to on 20 April, after The Beatles had completed Sgt Pepper. They discarded the vocals from 14 February, and in their place added bass, trumpet and glockenspiel. They then made another mix with new vocals, known as take 11. The two versions were then mixed together in sync to make the final mono version.
A new, slightly faster mix of the song was included on Anthology 2 in 1996. It was made up of the basic track from 13 February. with organ, bass, drums, and the vocals - featuring slightly different lyrics - that Harrison later re-recorded. The bass and guitar from the 20 April session was also incorporated in the mix.
A stereo version of Only A Northern Song wasn't made available until 1999, when Apple released the Yellow Submarine Songtrack collection.
The beginning of "Only A Northern Song" sounds like U2.
You mean the U2 sounds like the Beatles.
Oh, don't insult the poor Beatles like that.
This song transcends all other musical compositions. There simply isn't anything like it at all... and there probably never will be. Beatles at their creative peak I'd say.
Always thought this was BY FAR the weakest Beatles song -- but then had a listen tonight, and realized it's actually not that bad. And its value, as a document of George's real frustrations as a member of the band, is kind of incredible. It's like George's 'Glass Onion.'
Always haunted and attracted me, for all its supposed mediocrity (I disagree). Love listening to the remastered version.
Can someone shed any light on the mix found on the original CD (1987) version of "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack" The original vinyl LP (1969) had this track in fake stereo. The new remastered CD has it in mono. The remixed "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" CD (1999) has it in real stereo. What mix appears on the first CD version?
In the first cd Version appeared the fake stereo/duophonic version that appeared in 1969. Unfortunately they remastered it in mono on the 2009 Remasters.
The stereo version from the 1999 Yellow Sub is so much better than the hissy mono one on the new remasters. They should have used the stereo one again. But then again I think they should have re-mixed all the new remasters and balenced out the L/R channels, anyway!